Some of the advice was quite good, but some was a bit shaky. I’ll go through the tips and tell you what’s hot and what’s not!

Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers

Warm: If you have a password of less than 12 to 14 characters then the combination of numbers, symbols, upper and lower case letters. For longer passwords the need for all of these characters is far less. A 20 character password with all lower case letters is generally better than any 10 character password. Adding symbols and numbers does increase the strength of the password, even for long ones though.

Make sure your passwords are at least eight characters long. The more characters your passwords contain, the more difficult they are to guess

Warm: Eight characters is not sufficient unless you have no other choice. The more characters the better though.

Try to make your passwords as meaningless and random as possible

Cold: the password can be meaningful to you if it is long enough

Use different passwords for each account

Hot: If you use the same password for multiple accounts then if the password is compromised all of those accounts are compromised.

Change your passwords regularly. Set up a routine, changing your passwords the first of each month or every other payday

Almost Hot: The frequency with which you need to change your passwords depends upon what you are protecting and how good your passwords are. Typically every 6 to 12 weeks is sufficient for reasonably good passwords.

Never write your passwords down, and never give them out—to anyone.

Cold: If you have complex, separate passwords for everything, you are not likely to be able to remember them all. Writing the passwords down is not the issue, it’s all about where you keep what you wrote it down on! Do not share your passwords with others though!

Don’t use names or numbers associated with you, such as a birth date or nickname.

Cold: Don’t use just your birthdate, but a passphrase of “On January 3 I landed on earth” is a very good password, even if your birthday is January 3.

Don’t use your user name or login name in any form

Cold: Given a long password you can. For a short password this is good advice though.

Don’t use a derivative of your name, the name of a family member, or the name of a pet

Cold: Don’t use the name alone, but something like “Rover bit John’s hand” is a fine password (passphrase).

Avoid using a solitary word in any language

HOT HOT HOT: A solitary word is a terrible password that is easy for a computer to guess.

Don’t use the word password

Cold. You can use the word password in a sentence. “I hate changing my @%&$ password” is a fine password (passphrase)

Unfortunately, this team can’t handle support queries: we simply aren’t resourced for it. If you go to the support page at http://www.eset.com/support/index.php you should find a contact point appropriate to your needs.

Cindy

Thank you for your wonderful products. This article was helpful. I never can decide on what to use as a password.